Bacteriophage (phage) are viruses that infect bacteria. Phage can be grouped by the types of bacteria they infect. For example, certain types of phages, referred to as coliphage, infect coliform bacteria. The lytic cycle of coliphage replication cause the cell to lyse and release its contents, including intracellular enzymes.
In environmental water and some food samples the presence of E. coli is an indicator of fecal matter. The Environmental Protection Agency interprets the presence of coliphage in groundwater as an indicator of the presence of fecal matter that is equivalent to detection of E. coli and Enterococci. The equivalence of coliphage as an indicator reflects the idea that the presence of viruses to coliform bacteria must indicate the current or prior presence of coliform bacteria. In foods such as produce, coliphage detection may be useful as an indicator of hygienic production and cleanliness.
Like bacteria, such as pathogenic bacteria, found in fecal matter, viruses, such as enteric viruses, found in fecal matter can pose health risks for humans. Coliphage are an extensive and diverse group of viruses that include medium and large DNA viruses, small genome DNA viruses, and double and single stranded DNA and RNA viruses. Many coliphage are of roughly the same size, molecular weight and nucleic acid contents as enteric viruses and they occur in larger numbers. Coliphage, therefore, can be used as surrogate indicators for the possible presence of human pathogenic viruses.
We describe herein easy-to-use systems, methods and apparatuses for rapidly qualitatively and quantitatively detecting phage, particularly coliphage.